Getty ImagesHello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.

It should of course be noted that "blowing it up" isn't always the answer to a team's problems. For every Pittsburgh Penguins success story, there is also an Edmonton Oilers and Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets tragedy.

But what you don't hear very much is the story of teams that got mediocre and stayed that way for years at a time: Your Minnesota Wilds, your Florida Panthers, your Calgary Flames.

The problem with being a team like that is management seems very eager indeed to enter every season looking to compete very legitimately for a playoff spot (as opposed to those like Edmonton and the Islanders who pay lip service to competing but actually have no shot of doing so). Most spend middling amounts of money and seem somehow shocked when they receive middling results.

But at least they're not the Flames. Calgary, having missed the playoffs two years running after spending a few post-lockout seasons at the top of the Northwest Division, entered the season with one of the largest payrolls in the NHL and have never once looked especially like a team that had real playoff aspirations. The big-name, big-money players are there, of course. Jarome Iginla, Miikka Kiprusoff, and Jay Bouwmeester are all booking north of $5.8 million against the cap, and there was once again very little roster turnover under new GM Jay Feaster.

That was interesting. You can see Darryl Sutter's point in not flipping a what portions of the roster he could in the wake of that first missed postseason, because it may have been an aberration. After two such seasons, there weren't really any signs that the organization saw reasons for concern: several players from that group, in fact, were given multi-year extensions (the most egregious and baffling of which was Anton Babchuk's, which pays him $2.5 million for each of the next two years and comes with a no-trade clause).

After Feaster traded for Mike Cammalleri — a mildly prudent move, given how bad Rene Bourque has been in Montreal — he flatly told ESPN that the Flames were "going for it." And then came a flood of derision. At the time, Calgary was 12th in the West, and though Feaster wisely stood pat at the deadline, the team has done little to improve its position.

Calgary currently sits 11th, three points back of that big jumble of teams jockeying for the final two playoff spots, despite earlier this month putting together a five-game winning streak and climbing as high as a tie for ninth two points back of the final playoff spot. But since then, they've been dragged mercilessly back into the muck and mire that better fits their actual quality as a team.

(Coming Up: Teemu teases another season; Nassau Coliseum might be dangerous to your lungs; Blues chase NHL defense record; Toews inching back; Radulov's Nashville return; sick feed from Kyle Brodziak; Travis Zajac is lucky; a winning team in Toronto; Matt Cooke's argument against the red line; the joys of NCAA hockey; Quebec City gets a minus; John Tavares to the Rangers [yup]; and Henrik Sedin offers a little hypocrisy on player safety.)

APIn which we recap the day's events in the NCAA tournament.

Boston College hasn't lost since January, and playing more or less at home in Worcester, Mass., some 40 minutes from Boston, they weren't about to start.

Each of their three national title runs since 2001 have started in Worcester's DCU Center and that was where they put down the reigning champion Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs tonight with an easy 4-0 victory. It ran their record in that building to 8-0 since the national dominance began in earnest.

The Frozen Four is set: Boston College faces Minnesota and Union plays Ferris State on April 5 in Tampa.

The game was physical and a bit testy from the outset, which is something Duluth probably would have preferred. In the very first shift, Calgary Flames draft pick Billy Arnold swooped behind the Duluth net and absolutely clocked a defender, putting him on his wallet and knocking off his helmet. The tone was set, and BC made clear that it was more than willing to play a harder style even as it piled up a 2-0 lead in the first period and began to incorporate its favored puck possession game into the rough-and-tumble style favored by the western superpower.

The problem with BC -- if you're an opponent, at least -- is that they can beat you so many different ways. Their legendary coach, Jerry York, constructs his teams thusly: Forwards are either small and lightning quick, or big and superb skaters. All are extremely skilled and seem to quickly foster good understandings between one another. Defensemen are almost universally massive, and all can both join the rush and stamp out scoring chances with equal aplomb. Goaltenders are sound positionally, which is all they ever need to be given the quality of the team's overall defense.

As a consequence of the above, there is no especially good way to fully prepare for the Eagles.

APIn which we recap the day's events in the NCAA tournament.

The CCHA entered the tournament as the nation's undisputed super-conference.

Well, perhaps not undisputed per se, but certainly the one with the best chance of stocking the Frozen Four in Tampa with multiple teams.

After all, it sent five of its 11 teams to the NCAAs, territory that's usually reserved only for the WCHA and, far less often, an extremely lucky Hockey East. And most expected strong showings from even the weaker sides, if not easy trips through to the Elite Eight — not that they call it that — and a couple days in sunny Florida. But now, through two days of games, all five have been slain, their hopes of a national title lying in tatters.

The first CCHA defeat came as soon as it possibly could have, as No. 3 Union dropped 15th-ranked Michigan State on Friday, in the tournament's opening game. Not long after that, No. 13 Lowell edged No. 7 Miami in overtime. Then, in the tournament's biggest shocker, 14th-seeded Cornell got past No. 2 Michigan.

The misery continued for the Central Collegiate Hockey Conference, as one might have expected, Saturday afternoon when CCHA tournament winners Western Michigan lost to hard-charging North Dakota. It was the eighth win in a row for the terribly determined not-Sioux, who seem destined for yet another Frozen Four appearance.

Now only Ferris State, which won the CCHA regular-season title but crashed out of the league playoffs, remains of the CCHA's five entrants, having bested injury-depleted Denver on Friday and, more importantly, survived a dicey third period against Cornell on Saturday to advance to its first Frozen Four in school history.

AP
In which we recap the day's events in the NCAA men's hockey tournament.

Things were looking very dire indeed for the UMass Lowell River Hawks late in the third period on Friday.

They had entered that last frame up three goals on the higher-seeded Miami RedHawks, and seen that lead evaporate in less than 10 minutes, including two goals just 14 seconds apart, in a flurry of odd-man rushes and overwhelming determination from a team that had been to seven straight NCAA tournaments. Miami clearly knew what to do in situations like this.

However despite all of Miami's experience -- it has made the NCAA tournament seven straight years, while Lowell was making its first since 1996 -- it ended up that the River Hawks, who brought a very vocal fan section down Route 95, won out 4-3, though it did take overtime. Captain Riley Wetmore scored his second of the night to ice the game only 2:13 into the extra period.

[See yesterday's NCAA men's hockey tournament scores]

The final few minutes were, as you might imagine, not without their drama.

Much of that was provided by freshman Jake Suter (Yes, Gary's son), one of Lowell's steadiest own-zone defensemen all season and a consummate shot-blocker, who was called very deservingly for a five-minute checking from behind penalty with 3:35 remaining in regulation.

A five-minute power play with less than that remaining in the third period against a big, mean, skillful team was bad news, and Lowell turned, as it did all season, to sophomore goaltender Doug Carr.

Getty Images

Trending Topics is a column that looks at the week in hockey, occasionally according to Twitter. If you're only going to comment to say how stupid Twitter is, why not just go have a good cry for the slow, sad death of your dear internet instead?

A lot of times, being a good quote and a pretty skilled player can go a hell of a long way.

In the same way that the media can demonize players who repeatedly face supplementary discipline as "dirty" and "cheap" — think Matt Cooke circa 2010 or Brad Marchand today — and even as the team's own fans decry the decriers, they can also circle the wagons around any player who they have decided is Good In The Room and Plays The Game The Right Way.

In fact, the most important thing you can do in this sport is Play The Game The Right Way. Ask PK Subban, who has only once ever been hit with supplementary discipline (a max fine back in January), but was long criticized for not playing hockey as it was meant to be played, whatever that means. So, when he was fined, some said, "Finally, this guy gets his due." Then they waited a beat and said, "What do you mean he's not a repeat offender?"

Perception makes up a huge part of who does and does not play properly and clouds our judgment of just about everything.

Take for instance, oh, I don't know, someone like Shane Doan. Hoo boy does everyone love Shane Doan. Good ol' boy from Alberta. Wears cowboy hats and ropes steer in the offseason and probably gets some dirt on his dungarees. Yessir, there's a good honest player and a true leader of men.

You might remember on Wednesday night, he picked up a three-game ban from Sheriff Shanahan's office for targeting Jamie Benn's chin with a flying chickenwing elbow that would have gotten him multiple games if it had come in the preseason, November, today, or the Stanley Cup Finals.

Maybe the easiest decision Shanahan has made in a month. Three games, see ya later.

But Shane Doan, being such an Honest Player, was quick to issue an apology, as any good leader would:

"I accept the NHL's decision and ruling. I am thankful that Jamie Benn was not hurt on the play. I recognize how bad it looked but there was no intent to injure him…"

Well, hey there Shane, let me stop you right there.

APThe NCAA hockey tournament begins tomorrow afternoon, so why not do a bit of studying first?

The Boston College Eagles had to be more than a little unsatisfied with their performance last year.

BC had won two of the last previous national titles, and, while it wasn't the No. 1 seed in that tournament, it was certainly looked upon as a favorite to at least return to the Frozen Four. Instead, it crashed out of the first round 8-4 at the hands of Colorado College, which was bounced itself the following night by eventual runners-up Michigan.Particularly galling was the fact that BC conceded eight goals in that game, given that it had rampaged through its previous eight games, scoring 32 goals and conceding just 17.

And the scary thing for BC, which this year earned the top seed in the NCAA tournament with a 29-10-1 record, that's not even a particularly good run to the NCAA tournament, let alone performance in it.

What you have to understand about the Eagles is that their raison d'être from the time the calendar flips over to February is winning, and winning by embarrassing margins. Last weekend, they collected their third straight Hockey East title, and fifth in the last six years. And where last year's eight-game streak into the national dance looks impressive, it's dwarfed by this season's run of 15.

Yes, 15. Really.

During that scorched-earth run, which admittedly was a little soft down the stretch, it has pumped its terrified opponents for 61 goals. Worse still, it has allowed just 19. The last time it gave up more than two goals in a game was against UNH on Jan. 27, when this absurd streak began. In that one, it gave up three.

How does one contain a team with depth so chasmal, or score against a defense so miserly?

Getty ImagesHello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.

I'm not one of those people who thinks that professional athletes can't be MVP candidates unless their team makes the playoffs. That takes a rather dim and nuanceless view of what constitutes "value," because imagine how bad, say, Calgary would be if Miikka Kiprusoff were plying his trade elsewhere.

That said, I honestly no longer see how anyone at all can support Steven Stamkos, he of the loftiest goal total in the league and pretty much the only reason the Bolts aren't a lottery team, over Evgeni Malkin of the Penguins.

Even as Stamkos has continually filled opponents' goals with pucks — he was the league's first to 50 when no one else had more than 40 — Malkin carried one of the best teams in the league, one dealing with injuries to the world's best player and its own best defenseman to a 11-game win streak that was snapped on Sunday, and even then, his team still got a point.

I will say that the "you gotta make the playoffs to be an MVP" crowd has one thing right: It's probably not easy being as mind-bendingly good as Malkin has been in the thick of a playoff hunt in the most difficult division in the league.

Three teams in the Atlantic have 92-plus points. The same number as in the rest of the league combined. And under that weight, Malkin has been simply dazzling, picking apart all comers to the tune of a league-best 88 points in just 64 games. That's seven less than Stamkos, and he has eight more points and just nine fewer goals, which is no small feat.

This weekend, against the Devils and Flyers, Malkin had three points, which you might consider unspectacular. But consider this: Prior to the Penguins ambling into town for those contests, those Devils had conceded a total of eight goals in their previous eight games, and the Flyers had allowed 11 in eight.

In short, these are staunch defenses that Malkin and the Penguins picked apart for seven total goals and took three points in the standings, closing the gap on a Rangers squad whose eight-point division lead seemed insurmountable just two weeks ago.

Now it has been reduced to just one, and lies at Malkin's feet.

(Coming Up: Ominous injury for the Blues; Patrick Kane is in Beast Mode; Bryzgalov's huMANGous turnaround; Craig Anderson coming back; why the Panthers are in the Southeast driver's seat; the Red Wings are hurt; Bruins need a wake-up call; we weep for Svensanity; Cory Sarich blows up Taylor Hall; Zajac on the mend; in praise of BizNasty; Dion vs. goal cam; Varlamov rules; and a Rick Nash trade to ... Anaheim?)

Getty ImagesTrending Topics is a column that looks at the week in hockey, occasionally according to Twitter. If you're only going to comment to say how stupid Twitter is, why not just go have a good cry for the slow, sad death of your dear internet instead?

It wasn't hard to miss the consternation over Alexander Radulov's probable return to the Nashville Predators over the past week, as various parties around the NHL grumbled into their cereal about the inherent unfairness of it all.

Opposing GMs expressed a lot of displeasure with such a move, and Doug Armstrong in particular seemed peeved that a guy who was putting up big-time points in the KHL just a few weeks ago could return to the thick of an already tight Central Division and help his very good team become even better. The Canucks, too, said they weren't happy with it, though one just suspects that it's another case of the Canucks finding something to complain about, given that this is what the organization does from top to bottom.

But in the end, this is best for everyone involved, unless they have to play the Predators in the season's remaining however-many games, and playoffs.